Minolta AF 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 RS A-mount lens review by madecov

madecov#4344 date: Nov-9-2008
sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 3 distortion: 4 flare control: 3 overall: 3.7	tested on: film camera: APS-C: 6MP; 10MP; 12MP; 14MP; 16MP; 20MP; 24MP full frame: 12MP; 24MP; 36MP; 42MP; 61MP
ownership:	I own this lens
compared to:	Tamron 17-50 f2.8 Minolta 28-85 f3.5-4.5 Minolta 35-105 f3.5-4.5 Minolta 50mm f1.7
price paid:	$75.00 US Used
positive:	Light weight, fast focus. Fairly sharp
negative:	Build is only OK. I prefer the older metal lenses. Purple fringe.
comment:	I wanted a lens a bit wider than 28mm and found this one locally with both caps and hood. Took it out on a trip today and gave it a bit of a wringing out. Even without the sun in the image I managed to get a halo from flare, when I tried to adjust in the viewfinder I found this lens flares quite a bit. Purple fringe can be pretty bad also. Stopped down it has very nice sharpness and color is typical Minolta. The more I use this lens the more I like it. On cropped sensor you have the equivalent field of view of a 36-127mm. This may be the almost perfect walk around lens in it's price point.